Scenes in My Native Land. By Mrs. L.H. Sigourney.
Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1845. First edition. Cloth discolored. Spine faded. Binding extremities rubbed and slightly frayed. Hinges starting. Intermittent foxing. A good copy. Brown cloth stamped and ruled in blind. Spine gilt lettered. Small octavo. [4, publisher's ads], iv, 319 pp. Item #16108
Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865) was a poet and educator. In addition to writing, she encouraged powerful members of society to act beneficially on the behalf of slaves, Native Americans, the mentally ill, and others. She married Charles Sigourney in 1819 and began anonymously publishing her work because her husband feared his reputation would be tarnished if it were discovered that his wife was a poet. Some of Sigourney's other works include Traits of the Aborigines of America (1822) and Zinzendorff and Other Poems (1833), which focused on the plight of the Indian. Eventually, she published under her own name and became successful. With the publication of Poems (1834), she was hailed as "the female Milton." Sigourney traveled to Europe and was able to meet Wordsworth, Carlyle, and Maria Edgeworth. She published a record of her trips, Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands, in 1842.
Price: $150.00